In a computer network, a plurality of processors at geographically separated locations are interconnected by a suitable data link such as a telephone line, or a dedicated line. The processors may be communication processors, business processors or any other processors which communicate with each other over the data link to provide a geographically distributed processing capacity.
Generally speaking, in such networks the data link can only accommodate data from one of the processors at a time, and some means must be provided to control communication between the different processors and give them all suitable access to the data link. Synchronization between the processors is difficult due to transmission line effects of the data link, e.g. propagation delays.
It is in general an object of the invention to provide a new and improved system and method for controlling the transfer of data between a plurality of processors in a network.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system and method of the above character in which synchronization between the processors is effected without transmitting synchronization information over the data link.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system and method of the above character in which each of the processors in the network has substantially equal access to the data link.